"Unlike his Indian contemporaries who emulated European studio photography, (photographer Shapoor) Bhedwar (1858-c 1918)... questioned the idea of the photograph as a simple record of transpired reality,” note authors Diva Gujral and Nathaniel Gaskell in their 2019-published tome Photography in India: A visual history from the 1850s to the present. Describing his portraits as "dramatically lit, elaborately posed and highly stylized,” the authors note that "in the manner of staged performances, his tableaux often revealed a narrative thread and...present a mood.” The photographer’s creations also "referenced his interest in the theater and literature,” note Gujral and Gaskell.
The authors state that......